


Water Under The Bridge

by Oroburos69



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-27
Updated: 2011-06-27
Packaged: 2017-10-26 15:56:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/285117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oroburos69/pseuds/Oroburos69
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sakura is afraid of the water. She is also devious and manipulative.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Water Under The Bridge

"I know how to swim," Sakura said casually, not looking up from the scroll she was reading.

Kakashi nodded and went back to the scummy, green, and smelly pond. Sasuke had Naruto pinned under the water, great big bubbles oozing toward the surface, churned by Naruto's flailing arms.

Kakashi sighed and separated them, grateful that at least one of his genin didn’t require lessons.

* * *

  
"Hmmm," Sakura murmured, eyeing the river. "It looks cold. I think I'll make dinner, if you don't mind. I didn't bring a towel."

Naruto yowled in the distance, quickly followed by an indignant squawk from Sasuke and the sound of about a thousand gallons of water splashing into the trees. Kakashi gritted his teeth and headed up river, thankful that at least Sakura wasn't kicking up a fuss for once.

* * *

  
The waves lapped at the sandy beach, darkening the white sand. Kakashi collapsed, ignoring the screaming and hissing coming from the water. Naruto and Sasuke could walk on water. They could handle it, damn it.

Sakura rolled over, her swim suit far too skimpy for a thirteen year old in Kakashi's opinion, but he wasn't her father so he kept his mouth shut and directed localized killing intent at anyone who looked at her. "You okay?" she asked, pushing her hair out of her eyes.

Kakashi grunted.

Sakura laughed, and since when did she sound so old? "What a rousing endorsement that wasn't," she said.

"Fuck. Go swimming or something," he begged, pretending that if he could get them all in the water he'd have some peace.

"Can't," she said sweetly, smiling at Kakashi with indisputable malice. Why did they all hate him again?

"Why not?" Kakashi asked dully. Maybe he shouldn't have made them run for the entire mission. Good training, yes. Good idea, no.

"Female problems," she said.

Kakashi refused to ask.

A teenage boy wandered a bit too close to Sakura. Kakashi glared at him until he left.

* * *

  
"We need to go through this tunnel to get into their base," Kakashi told them, pointing it out on the map.

Sakura leaned over and frowned. "Does it attach to the river?" she asked.

"It's submerged."

"...oh." Sakura looked up, hesitating like she wanted to ask him something--

"Stop it!" Naruto yelled, smacking Sasuke's hand. "Kakashi, he's _poking_ me."

"Hn."

Kakashi counted to ten and tried to remember that they were the future of the village, but the thought depressed him too much so he pretended it was a babysitting mission instead. "We're on a mission," he reminded them. "Could you at least try to be professional?"

* * *

  
"I'll go after you," Sakura said, staring at the dark water.

Kakashi sighed. "No you aren't. I'm going last so that if any of you little idiots hit your heads, I can drag them out." He glanced at the tunnel anxiously. Naruto and Sasuke had gone first, and he didn't feel comfortable letting them cross the street by themselves, much less infiltrate an enemy base.

"Female problems?" she said tentatively. "I'll stay here."

"What?" Kakashi said, genuinely bewildered. He'd researched female problems because she kept bringing them up, and he was almost certain that she'd--it had--there was--Kakashi shook his head. "Wasn't that last week?" he asked tentatively, hoping against hope that she wouldn't explain.

"Yes."

"Then..."

"Clotting."

"What--no. Go sit down and don't get kidnapped." Kakashi dove into the water before she could continue. He didn't want to know.

* * *

  
Kakashi considered banging his head against the wall until he slipped into a nice, quiet coma.

"We found her outside," the leader of the bandit group said, twirling his moustache. "Is she yours?"

Sakura waved sheepishly. The bandit holding her captive dug the knife into her skin, drawing a tiny droplet of blood. Sakura stilled abruptly, and stared at Kakashi with big, scared eyes.

Naruto yelled something stupid but inspirational. Sasuke grunted fiercely.

"I think we can come to an arrangement, Ninja." The leader looked at Sakura, his eyes lingering far too long. "Don't you?"

Sakura's fingers twitched into the signs he'd taught them, asking for a distraction.

"You don't want to get too close to her," Kakashi said blandly, staring at the bandit holding Sakura.

The man gave her a curious look.

"She's clotting."

Curiosity turned to alarm, and Sakura broke the bandit's nose and stabbed him with his knife. Kakashi felt a bit of pride, but was too busy putting his hand through the leader's chest to compliment her.

Naruto and Sasuke charged forward, inflicting their havok on someone other than Kakashi for once.

The mustached leader squirmed, and Kakashi shook the body off his hand. The mission had requested that the man be brought in alive, but accidents happened.

* * *

  
"Sakura?"

She glanced at him uneasily. Sakura hadn't spoken much since the bandit cave. It had been a bit of a blood bath, admittedly, but Kakashi was fairly certain that wasn't the problem.

"When we get back to Konoha, I'm teaching you how to swim," he told her.

"But I know how to swim," she protested.

Kakashi stared at her.

"You know, mostly."

He tilted his head.

"I can float."

Kakashi decided to contribute. "So can dead bodies."

"I can walk on water! I don't need to know how to swim."

In the distance, Naruto started fighting with Sasuke.

"Except for today, but that was, like, an exception."

"You're going to learn," Kakashi said.

"But water's _dirty_ ," she complained.

Kakashi nodded sympathetically and decided to use the scummiest, dirtiest, foulest pond he could find to teach her.  



End file.
